|  The crystal ball says we live in the best place in the world. Personally, I’ve long been convinced of it, having lived in this area for most of my life, but this is the opinion of a bio-economy expert who spoke at the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre recently.
His perspective was a bit different from mine, though. While my ideas of why this is a great place to live are shaped by family, friends and lifestyle, his were focused on societal fundamentals, such as oil, water and food. John P. Oliver says our conventional supplies of oil, food and water will be surpassed by global demand by 2050. Continue reading Healthy Ontario farms will help us as supplies decline  A series of global trends will change everything about the way we eat, says the head of Canada’s largest grocery chain. And that means both adjustment and opportunity for those involved in food, Galen Weston of Loblaw Companies Limited told attendees at the Agricultural Adaptation Council’s annual meeting in Guelph recently. Continue reading Loblaws chief: global trends will impact food
By 2025, farmers need to double their food output to feed an estimated global population of eight billion. That’s a startling statistic and what it means is something we all need to start thinking about. I came across it in a report on the Colorado Ag Classic, a convention of Colorado wheat, seed, corn, sunflower and sorghum producers that was held this past week. Ag experts from the United States Department of Agriculture and Colorado State University talked about the challenges farmers will face in trying to meet future food demands. Continue reading Feeding the world without destroying it?  A new strategy on water usage in agriculture unveiled by Britain’s Environment Agency paints a potentially grim picture for farmers.
This according to a report in Farmers Weekly, a leading British agricultural publication. The strategy includes tighter restrictions on agricultural irrigation as well as increased costs for water recycling and construction of on-farm reservoirs. Continue reading UK water rules sign of future for Canada’s farmers? The following article was printed in the Ontario Corn Producer, December 2008. By Lilian Schaer These days, it seems hard to predict what may happen with any degree of accuracy three months from now, let alone three years into the future. But although we live in volatile times, there are some fairly safe bets on what may lie ahead for farmers on the environmental front. Continue reading The green crystal ball Ontario is emerging as one of the world’s leading centres of environmental research. That was the message Ontario farm writers heard at the University of Western Ontario’s Biotron at a tour there recently. The tour was a follow up to a presentation made by former Biotron General Manager Amar Singh, who first spoke about the world [...]  World Food Day came and went last week – with nary a mention in most major media. As someone working in the world of food and farming, this is something I probably should have heard about, but didn’t until today when I was catching up on all of my reading.
Continue reading World Food Day – mostly ignored
| |
